Sunday, August 17, 2008

Olympic Coverage for Dummies

Or at least that's what NBC must think we are. Ok - so not everyone just wants to watch Track & Field but explain to me why I was watching a qualifying round basketball match between the US and NZ women while the men's 10,000m final was getting underway? I kept thinking they would switch coverage but No. And from what I can tell they have no plans to show the race until later this evening (same with women's 100m final which was held around 9am CDT) - so I gave in and looked up the results online...

STOP reading if you don't want to know! Sorry for those folks who already read on before I added this. Thanks Keith :)

Bekele defended his title to take gold again and no medal for Gebrselassie who faded to 6th place towards the finish. Jamacia took 1-2-2 (tie for 2nd) in the 100m so no glory for Lauren Williams et al. Amazingly the golds in the 100m men's and women's this week for Jamacia were their first despite being strong in sprinting for as long as I've been watching the Games.

The reason I am sat watching TV in the first place is that my ankle is pretty sore this morning so no running. Or biking. I guess I could have biked - Pam and Karen were setting off from Plymouth at 8am but I decided I needed the sleep instead. And also still have a pain in my right quad so biking might not have been the best idea. No clue what's up with that but hopefully a massage this week will sort it out. Anyway I finally got a great long sleep! So I think a few days rest and I should be able for my last final workout by mid-week. Last fall Kami and I did this great session in Afton starting with the first hill on the race course - up and down that one, then the next one over, and the next one, and then the gravel one. And do it in reverse. And repeat...

We'll see. I'd better take care of the ankle. It is just annoying since it didn't feel that bad when I turned it. Will bike at some point this week also since I won't be doing any more of that until after Superior. In NM from next Friday until Labor Day so will just do some light runs. Indulged in a pair of Inov-8's yesterday. I'd been meaning to stop by TC Running store for the longest time and finally made it over there after meeting the girls at Little Long Lake for an afternoon swim. Nice shop - much bigger selection of gear than I remembered from my last visit which was probably well over a year ago.

Was looking up Leadville results earlier - sounded like tough conditions out there. Everyone did well to get to where they did. Not sure made it to the finish as the online tracker is down at the moment. Looking forward to hearing all about it. And the Pikes Peak Ascent which Kami, Cathy & Igor were doing (and also I think a few of the runner from Team Ortho) - heard from the guys last night that they were turned around 3m from the finish due to bad weather - so they ended up returning to the start for 20m instead of a half marathon!! Well, I guess they now know what the ascent and descent on that course feel like :)

Olympic coverage had turned to Fencing. I think it's time to turn off the TV.

end of post.

4 comments:

keith said...

You should put a spoiler alert at the top of that post.

I think they show the races like the 100M and the 10,000M later on because it's closer to prime time. They figure Americans don't want to watch sports before noon unless it's football (american) or Nascar.

Shee-it.

nwgdc said...

That is actually really amazing that Jamaica didn't have a gold before these games. I guess it's kinda sad (either for me personally or for viewers in general) that all the WR's in these games has me suspicious.

nwgdc said...

Side note...I noticed "NF Endurance Challenge" on your right column and it got me excited!

Then I realized it was "North Face" and not "Neurofibromatosis."
Check out www.1month100miles.com for some info on my own "NF Endurance Challenge." I know, I know, those events are easy training runs for you, but I look forward to meeting you at a MN run sometime in the future!

Matthew Patten said...

Helen,

Great to see you Friday. I was starting to fall apart as you and Val were taking off. I recall being a bumbling idiot.

The Olympics thing confuses me. When I think of the Olympics, I first and foremost think of track & field, not beach volleyball.

When I was a kid living in LA, the 1984 olympic marathon ran by my house. It was a special memory, even though I was doing my paper route at the time, and helicopters were blowing crap everywhere.

My kids keep asking when the hammer throw is on.

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